CWI Compass Connect - Nov. 13, 2018
News Highlights
Fall 2019 Registration
College of Western Idaho (CWI) is excited to announce registration dates for the Fall 2019 semester.
Priority registration at College of Western Idaho for the Fall 2019 semester begins April 8. Priority registration allows continuing students a chance to enroll in classes ahead of others in order to stay on track to graduate.
- Students can register online anytime on or after their assigned registration time.
- Continuing students, who enrolled and attended classes any semester since fall 2016, are eligible.
- Assigned registration times are based on cumulative credits earned.
- Students can check myCWI and CWI email for their assigned time.
- Dual Credit students are not eligible for priority registration.
Open Registration for all students, including new and continuing, begins April 15 at 8 a.m.
Visit us online to learn more about applying to CWI, orientation, registering for classes, and for One Stop Student Services hours and locations.
CWI Partners with Saint Alphonsus to Offer Training
Local partnerships are bringing resources together and positively impacting the workforce, offering an integrated education and training opportunity to College of Western Idaho’s English as a Second Language (ESL) students. The Environmental Services Pre-apprenticeship class, held twice a week at Saint Alphonsus in Boise, focuses on language and career development, preparing students to work in the healthcare industry as Environmental Services (EVS) Technicians.
“The demand to hire and retain hospital workers to sanitize and prepare rooms in the Boise Metro Valley is very strong right now,” said Talent Acquisition Partner for Saint Alphonsus Health System, Rance Portenier. “EVS Technicians are critical to the prevention of infectious outbreaks, patient safety, and patient satisfaction. The shortage of well-educated, capable EVS Technicians can be very detrimental to patient outcomes.”
Students in the class receive 80 hours of instruction and training including English language acquisition and literacy, job task and soft-skill training, and career navigation skills.
“Our class is very great,” said student, Linda Akike, who came to Idaho from the Democratic Republic of Congo. “We are so excited to come and take this class because it helps us a lot. We learn things like how to clean, how to talk with the patients – a lot of very important things.”
Pierre Kamergeri, a classmate from the same Central African country, agreed adding, “It will be a foundation for our life.”
At the conclusion of the training, students are prepared to interview for and succeed in an EVS position. Once hired, the students are encouraged to continue training and education in order to move into additional health careers in high demand. Additionally, students hired by Saint Alphonsus will receive continuing education to become a Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Technician, a nationally transferrable credential.
“The supportive services provided to our students by Saint Alphonsus and International Rescue Committee through this partnership have been an example to me of what ‘community’ really means,” said Trevi Hardy, ESL and Pathways Supervisor in CWI’s Basic Skills Education department. “This partnership is providing our students with real-life career and English language skills that will lead to full-time employment with a living wage, health care benefits, and opportunities for additional education and training.”
Thank you to the following Treasure Valley Health Careers Council EVS Project partners who help make this opportunity possible for our ESL students:
- Saint Alphonsus
- International Rescue Committee
- Metrics Reporting
- Idaho Department of Labor
- Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
- Goodwill International
To learn more about the EVS Pre-apprenticeship class, contact Trevi Hardy at 208.562.2014 or trevihardy@cwi.edu.
Student Receives Physical Therapist Assistant Award
Congratulations to Lindsay Whipple, a 2018 graduate from College of Western Idaho's (CWI) Physical Therapist Assistant (PTA) program. Whipple received a PTA Student of the Year award from the Idaho Chapter of the American Physical Therapy Association, in September, at Idaho State University in Meridian.
“Lindsay was a stellar student from day one—she exceeded all expectations, not only from our academic side, but also from her clinical instructors,” said Leah Wilsey, Director of Clinical Education. “Lindsay was definitely attentive, and she volunteered for many CWI activities."
A PTA works together with a physical therapist to implement a plan of care to aid patients and clients. Students at CWI are instructed in principles and procedures of the PTA which include therapeutic modalities, therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, and neurological interventions. According to the Idaho Department of Labor, the average hourly wage for a PTA is $21.12.
“A physical therapist assistant someone who has good communications skills and has empathy and an ability to work with patients during their process of healing,” added Wilsey.
Scholarship Spotlight—Nichelle B.
Hometown: Boise, Idaho
Major: Biology-Healthcare, Nursing
Graduation: 2021
Thank You: “As a single mother, this scholarship will come as immense help. Thank you for helping me achieve my dreams.”
Not going to college has never been an option for College of Western Idaho (CWI) student, Nichelle B. She shares, “I have always known I wanted to go into the medical field. CWI has made this path so clear and obtainable due to the staff, affordable tuition, available scholarships, and online classes. I couldn’t be any happier with my choice of a college.”
At 15, Nichelle found out she was expecting a baby. This news influenced her desire to graduate from high school early and go to college. During finals week in her first year of college, two trips to the hospital left Nichelle with an unfinished semester and student loans.
“In addition to that, the relationship I was in had become very unhealthy,” she said. “By the time I decided I needed to leave, I had two children.”
As a single mother, Nichelle worked multiple jobs in order to make her dream of an education possible, eventually choosing to attend CWI. As the recipient of the LTH Don’t Give Up Scholarship, Nichelle says because of scholarships like this she will be able to graduate debt free even as a single mom. Planning to continue her education after CWI, Nichelle would ultimately like to work as a surgical or trauma nurse.
“I have been able to become a positive example to my children. Even at such a young age they understand that to obtain your dreams, you have to challenge yourself—sometimes that means you have to be temporarily inconvenienced,” she said. “Because of CWI, our lives are changing.”
CWI Launches Practical Nursing Program
College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) is proud to announce the addition of a new Practical Nursing program beginning January 2019.The three-semester curriculum (one calendar year) prepares students to become practical nurses by providing a combination of theory and practical instruction, as well as clinical experiences, in local healthcare facilities.
“CWI decided to start a Practical Nursing program after the Idaho Department of Labor and Idaho Hospital Association expressed a tremendous need within industry for these workers,” said Cathleen Currie, Dean of Health. “The College is excited to provide a pipeline, through this new program, helping to fill a vital role in healthcare. Local hospitals have already reached out to us offering clinical placements.”
Graduates will earn an intermediate technical certificate and are eligible to take the National Council Licensure Examination-Practical Nursing (NCLEX-PN). Once licensed, practical nurses work as an important member of the healthcare team in many settings including rehabilitation centers, long-term care and assisted living facilities, healthcare clinics, and correctional healthcare service facilities.
Applications for Spring 2019 semester are being accepted now through Nov. 15. For more information about the Practical Nursing program, including dates for upcoming Healthcare Information Sessions, please visit the program webpage or contact Andrew Miller at 208.562.2270 or andrewmiller@cwi.edu.
Visiting Artist Series Welcomes Opal Theatre Company
The College of Western Idaho (CWI) Visiting Artist Series is proud to welcome the Opal Theatre Company to campus Wednesday, Nov. 14. Josh Rippy, Adjunct Faculty of Theatre Arts at the College, will be bringing his theatre company to the Nampa Campus Academic Building for a dramatic reading of “The Minotaur” from 6 – 8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
The Minotaur is a modern update of the classic Greek myth. Ariadne is an unhappy teenager who lives in a deeply dysfunctional home. Her father, Minos, is the despot ruler of Crete who loathes his wife for falling in love with a bull (a divine punishment by Poseidon for the failure of Minos to sacrifice the bull to honor him) and giving birth to a monster. Her mother despises anything else that came from her womb, meaning Ariadne. As a result, Ariadne is so lonely that she frequently visits the prison maze beneath the castle to talk and play Connect Four with her half-brother, a man with the head of a bull.
Playwright Ziegler dances with several interesting intellectual questions: Is love the key to happiness, or is happiness overrated? Are men much different from beasts? Most importantly, are our lives preordained by fate or do we have free will that allows us to choose our futures?
CWI’s Visiting Artist Series is made possible thanks to a grant from the Idaho Commission on the Arts, which is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
